


Walk a Little Straighter

by Little_red_2000



Series: Secrets [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A lot of talking, Bad Parent Sheriff Stilinski, Child Abuse, Derek is a Softie, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, The Pack are Adorable, back stories, referenced Claudia Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 09:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14352396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_red_2000/pseuds/Little_red_2000
Summary: "Stiles is honestly surprised he got this long.Three hours of acting normal and having dinner with the pack before they pounced on him with questions."OR. The next installment of the Secrets series!





	Walk a Little Straighter

Stiles is honestly surprised that he got this long.

Three hours. Three hours of acting normal and having dinner with the pack before they pounced on him with questions.

He probably has Derek to thank for that.

*****  
He and Derek had stayed in the car for a long while, even after breaking apart from their hug. They just sat there in silence, Stiles thinking that everything might be about to blow up in his face, but he’s.. Well, not happy per se, but lighter, now that he doesn’t have to hide it anymore. The amount of energy that it took to keep the secret, not only from Scott when they were just human, but then with a pack full of werewolves, was exhausting on a good day; and left Stiles crumpling into his bed at the end of everyday, scared that tomorrow would be the day that someone found out and Derek would be taken from him.

Derek eventually drove them to the loft when it started getting dark, his right hand holding Stiles’s left one tightly the whole drive.

When they get to the loft everyone was seated around as usual, couples banned together on every available surface except for Derek’s special armchair. They’d greeted him like usuall, like they hadn’t found out that Stiles is broken. Broken by the man that was supposed to build him up, and care for him the way no one else would.

He’d been expecting to be bombarded with questions as soon as he walked in the door, but instead they’d talked like normal, asked what he wanted for dinner (even though he was usually the one cooking) and when he decided chinese take out, they just ordered it without a question or complaint. 

He’d waited, all through out dinner, for one of them to burst and ask what he knew was on all their minds, even Derek’s.

Finally, after dinner, and three hours of normalcy, Scott breaks the bubble.

“Dude,” He says, and that’s all he needs to say.

Stiles feels like crying because he knows that he’ll have to talk about it, and he’s been keeping it in for so long it feels like talking about it is the hardest thing in the world. He doesn’t cry though, he settles on the couch, everyone swarming around him, and looks at Derek for reassurance, and gets a slight nod from the man.

“Ask away,” He say, preparing for the questions.

“Has this been going on long?” Scotts asks first, everyone else keeping quiet, like they’ve rehearsed this before.

“It started a few weeks after my mom died,” Stiles confesses quietly. He keeps his eyes on his sneakers. “He was going through a lot and I wasn’t making things any easier, acting up and wanting his attention. He’d hit me and I was so shocked because it’d never happened before so I just went to my room, to cry.”

Stiles stares absently into space for a moment, then starts talking, aware that everyone is staring at him.

“I remember, after my mom died, looking up to my dad, you know? Like, he was the best thing in the world to me. I remember that most of the times I looked up, he wasn’t there. He was always working, he’d been promoted to sheriff, and he had to take care of hospital bills, funeral bills, house bills, just so many bills that I never saw him much.

“I’d wait by the door, when he’d get off work, even though most of the times it was way past my bedtime, just to see him for a second. He’d stumble past me, already drunk, heading for our liquor cabinet that he’d only used for guest parties before. He’d grab a bottle of whatever liquor he touched first, and then stumbled to his chair, to drink himself into a stupor.

“When he’d get up, hungover and late for work, he’d fumble his way up stairs, to my room, and he’d,” Stiles pauses, tears burning his eyes, but refusing to let them fall, “he’d shake me awake, yelling at me for not waking him up on time, and for not cleaning up the whiskey, or scotch, or whatever he was drinking, spill he’d made the night before. He’d strike me twice across the stomach for it. He’d knew not to hit me in the face after the first time he hit me and Melissa noticed, I’d had to lie, said I was just being stupid but she still asked him about it. Asked why I was being reckless in the first place, when he was supposed to be taking time off work. 

I don’t know what he told her but it worked, and he never hit me across the face again, but he just got more… creative with punishments as time went on,” Stiles stops talking, caught up in the memory of his dad beating him with a shoe in the bathroom of the grocery store because Stiles had snuck a box of Reeses Puffs into the cart.

He’s brought out of the memory by sniffles and Lydia clearing her throat quietly

“Why--” Lydia begins but is cut off by Stiles standing up.

“Before my mom got sick, we’d all take a walk after dinner, every night, no matter what time my dad got home. He was still a deputy then though, so less hours,” Stiles say as he starts pacing holes across the floor in front of the row of window, all eyes in the room hanging on his every word raptly.

“We’d walk a few blocks before my mom would let us have dessert, it was just something we did. I’d walk between my parents, holding their hands, chatting about whatever I thought about at that moment. My mom would hum her acknowledgment but mostly, she stared at my father. They would just look at each other with this look, like they were so in love,” Stiles has to wipe away a stray tear that escaped without his permission.

“One night, they were so caught up in each other, and a ball or something, I can’t remember exactly, in a neighbor's yard had caught my attention, so I slipped from their hands and went after it. Then I got distracted again by something else, then something else, next thing I know, I’m three blocks away and absolutely terrified. When my parents finally found me I was in tears, and they looked no better. My mom started fussing at me, telling me to never run off like that by myself, that I had scared her half to death. My dad,” Stiles pauses, getting a bit choked up.

“My dad just swept me up into his arms and hugged me so tightly I couldn’t move. He whispered in my ear how much I scared them and to never do it again. He gave me his piece of pie that night, when my mom wasn’t looking.” Stiles smiles a little at the memory. “That’s why I didn’t tell before Lydia, because my dad wasn’t always the bad guy, but life has a way of making even the best of people bad. And at the end of the dad, he’s still my dad.”

“That’s enough,” Derek says suddenly, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on with his shoulder. He strides across the large room, sweeping Stiles out of the room, away from the watering eyes of the pack and into and into the kitchen.

“You don’t have to explain anymore, you don’t owe any of us an explanation.” Derek answers Stiles’s raised eyebrow.

“Thanks,” is all Stiles can think to say.

“You ready to go back?” Derek asks, after they just stare at each other for a few moments longer.

Stiles nods, and heads back to the living room.

“Stiles,” Scott begins.

“We’re so sorry,” Kira cuts in.

“For everything you’ve been through,” Isaac says.

“You’re the strongest person,” Erica adds in.

“That any of us know,” Boyd pipes up.

“And you deserved,” Allison inputs.

“So much more than you got,” Danny replies.

“We just want you to know,” Lydia interjects.

“That we are here for you,” Jackson Finishes.

Stiles has to smile at their efforts, eyes watering and wondering what he did to deserve such amazing friends.

“How long did it take you guys to rehearse that?” He asks, smiling like a loon.

“And that we love you,” Derek says from beside him, eyes intense when Stiles looks at him. 

He feels butterflies in his stomach at those words coming from Derek, and he smiles again, this time more shyly, but extremely happy still. 

He knows that the happiness won’t last forever, they have to face the real world sometime, and still have to come up with a plan of action about what to do with his future, but right now, with the pack making gagging and cooing noises in the background, as he stares into Derek’s love felt eyes, he’s perfectly happy.

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by Walk a Little Straighter By Billy Currington. Hence the name. Go check it out, it's soooo good!


End file.
